Anyone else ever try this? It seems miserable, but I've been wrong before :)
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One of the great aspects of unicycle culture is that you can find it anywhere -- if you bother to look. All around the world there are events, challenges and rides going on for no other reason than pure clean fun and hanging out with others who share your aspirations and obsessions. Probably more of the later, really. I love hearing about unicycle rides and competitions in other parts of the galaxy and here we have a great one. The Asheville Mountain Unicycle Festival in Asheville, North Carolina. The event takes place on September 17-19th. Here is what the WNC Unicyclists Club have to say:
The Festival costs $75 plus $25 per additional family member. All riders/non riders registering before September 1 will receive a T-shirt and can attend the festival awards meal. Sounds like a solid day of fun on the cheap. So if your in the area or passing through be sure to check out this club and their event. It looks like its shaping up to be a good time.
Many of you might not know this, but I was born in Landstuhl, Germany. I didn't stay long after my birth and instead my parents brought me to the US to the great state of Wisconsin were you eat, drink and recreate as if you were in Germany, only you're health care is prohibitively expensive. Thanks Mom, thanks Dad. I've always wanted to take my own family and head back to Germany to see what I was missing out on. Well, this month for sure I'm missing out on some real uni-fun. The folks over at QU-AX Unicycles are co-sponsoring the QX Stair and Style Event in Stuttgart Germany. The event is taking place from September 24th-26th. The competition will focus on Stuttgart's stairs or "Staffels", which are what the Swabian people call public tracks which are too steep to establish a common road (even stairs are cooler in Germany!). Getting down these stairs with style and speed is the reason for the events name. Besides that, there will be a best trick contest and a flatland contest. The schedule allows individual activities and allows participants to just hang out with others and have fun. According to the promoters, the event is located in the middle of Stuttgart. It only takes you a few minutes to find some awesome spots for trial/street/flatland or just check out some sigths of Stuttgart. Besides hosting an awesome event that can't help but be super fun, check out these hot shirts. I love the design. Stair and Style Shirt--Yours free for registering! And last but not least, I can't write a short piece about QU-AX without linking to their version of my current obsession. Ladies and Unicycle-Men, I give you the Luxus 36" Silver Marathon  Luxus 36" Silver Marathon *Drool* About a year ago I posted a short from Joseph Neigh a rising filmmaker in the Northern VA/Washington DC Metro area. Joe is still working on finishing up a longer short on the sport of unicycling and based on what I've seen so far, it's bound to be an interesting piece of docu-cinema. It's obvious to me that Joe is not all work and no-play and his latest video of him unicycling through a Target store is proof. Now, if you find yourself asking, 'why is Joe riding through target on a unicycle', I think you need to stop yourself and ask--'why aren't we all riding through our home town Targets on unicycles'? Or Walmarts for that matter? Heaven knows they have enough room. Joe dedicates this little video to Terry the unigeezer--a staple of the internet unicycle crowd--mainly because Terry was the first to try this. I'd like to see a lot more of this going on around the world. So here is a meager call to arms. Spread the uniycycle word. Take up your 16, your 20, your 26 inch unis and ride your local department store and send me the video. And if you find yourself getting arrested or more likely, chastised by a 16 year old employee, just remember--there's no such thing as bad publicity. So get out there and start spreading the news. Well, It's finally arrived, my new Torker 26" Unicycle and I'd have to say, all around, I'm happy with the performance and feel. When it first arrived, my kids just about bust their pants (I didn't tell them I had ordered a new uni). So getting the Torker out of the box and assembled was a heck of a feat with those two running around. But really, the assembly went quick--regardless of their efforts. It has a really smart design with only a few bolts to tighten. A minor draw back about the bolts is that the Allen Bolts for the wheel was a different size than the Allen bolts for the saddle post. Big deal, no! But I"m a huge fan of design and function. The size difference was so nominal that it would have made sense to up-size the seat post bolts. Meh. The unicycle is clearly well built and sturdy. The forks have a nice red paint job and the Torker logo plastered all over it has a decent presence. My least favorite feature of this unicycle is the seat. It's super uncomfortable, but this is a common trait amongst many unicycles. I've commuted to work and back on it twice now and both times have left me sore. If I'm going to do any serious miles than I'm going to need to upgrade. But comfort and upgrades go hand in hand. For the price of this Uni--$106--it's well worth the money. I still need to check out the cranks. I'd like to get some smaller one's, but I'm not savoy on if this is possible. More to come on that later. This leads me to the real critic. Does the Torker 26" unicycle qualify as a real communicycle? Maybe, but not hardly. Is that exact enough? No, ok. You can move along at perhaps 2.5 times the speed of a walking person with a 26" wheel. This is a pretty tiring pace. Perhaps it gets easier the more distance you put on. But really, this isn't a great speed if you want to go tens of miles--or heaven forbid 100's of miles. So in the end, short commutes-yes; long commutes--no. Because of this, I'm already chomping at the bit to get onto a 36 inch wheel with a short set of cranks. Because as of now--no fault to the Torker--my communicycling hunger has not been satiated. I wan't more wheel, greater distances and less work. The Big One? As a side note, check out the folks at Sage Cycles who treated me real well. I'd recommend them any day.
Nine days ago I ordered a 26 inch Torker Unicycle from a shop online, since the local shops here in town have a very limited selection of larger wheeled uni's. Two days after I ordered the unicycle I wrote back to see how my order was going and they informed me that although they tout free shipping the shipping was actually 'free'--meaning $15. Fine, they had decent prices, the order was already in and the 15 extra dollars brought them close to others' prices, but not over. Today, after seven days of hoping to return from work to find my wife smiling over the box of my new unicycle I sent another email asking how my order is going, in return I get a paypal email from the company that states they need $15 prior to shipping. Now, this is the money they informed me about--they never took it out of my account and therefor never shipped the item! I finally sent an email to the company asking for my money in return. I'd rather deal with a different organization--one that advertises actual prices and ships an item in a timely manner. I'm not going to actually name the organization, unless the email I get in return from them is anything less than apologetic. But it does make me wonder about straying off the beaten path of the big online stores. I like buying from the smaller online stores and usually they treat you very well. This has not been one of those instances. Perhaps this is a chance to upgrade to even a larger wheel....To dream..... Ride.
I am very quickly going to become obsessed with CommUnicyling (as it shall be called here for now on). I'm still awaiting my short distance commuter, so I still don't have a great feel for how easy or hard this is going to be, but my excitement is mounting. And stories like this are just feeding into my expectations. A few days ago, Kevin Williams, completed a 200 mile race from Seattle-to-Portland; on a unicycle. In a race mainly filled with competitors knifing the air with two-wheels, you can be sure that Kevin Williams stood out. But what makes Kevin's story truly inspiring is that back in 2004 he was diagnosed with cancer.
But like so many cancer survivors before him, Kevin continued--eventually--to engage in what he loved. And so in 2009 he signed up for the Seattle-to-Portland race and...didn't finish. As he put it, he, "fell off the mount". But he also picked himself up and entered the race again in 2010--finishing.
I can't quite tell which uni he has--I'm not that much of a fanatic yet I guess--but you can tell its pretty tricked out. In fact, the article mentions that he uses a 29 inch tube on this 36 inch beast. I'd like to know exactly why that helps. I guess the tire is tighter and more taut providing less resistance? Regardless, he's inspired me to ride. Later.
Howdy, I've been getting more and more excited about being a commuter unicyclist ever since the de-railer on my bike decided to jump into the spokes while I was going 30 MPH down the Scott Street Bridge here in my town. I've never ridden a uni with a wheel size over 20". In part because I never had the opportunity in my small town and in part because I never really sought them out. But now I find myself dreaming of bigger and bigger wheels. Which is a surprise to me. Commuter unicycles are not entirely a new concept, but for some reason I've been focused on tricks for so long, the larger wheels just never made sense. Perhaps age has something to do with it? For those of you new to the concept of commuter unicycles it's really not that complicated--these are unicycles with very large wheels. I'm not sure where the threshold officially begins on commuter unicycles, but its somewhere around 26-29 inches depending on who your listening to. It goes without saying that the bigger the wheel the faster you'll go. So my purchase of a 26" Unistar is OK, but I'm not expecting that I'll enjoy 20 mile rides on it. But getting the few miles back and forth to work should be just fine--at least I hope. The real commuter cycles are the 36 inch masterpieces that come equipped with hand breaks and handlebars!? Yes, handbrakes. There are a few companies making commuter unicycles with 36 inch wheels--Nimbus, Coker and Kris Holm all have a 36 inch models and from what I read on the boards all three of these brands are worth looking into. But when you do, don't be surprised at what you find. The Nimbus Titan--the most affordable of the line--comes in at $450, Coker's 'Big One' posts at a little over $500. If that's too expensive than feast your eyes on Kris Holm's exquisite 36 inch ride which will set you back $844. It sounds daunting, but think of all the money you'll save on gas! My 26" Torker hasn't arrived yet, so I don't know what to say about commuting on a unicycle beyond the fact that I'm excited to try it and have a feeling I'm going to love it. And part of me is afraid I will love it. How will I ever convince my wife that I deserve a $500 unicycle? :) I'd like to hear from other unicycle commuters and their experience. But then again, I'd also like to hear from Nimbus, Coker or Kris Holm if you folks are out there. I can do a really nice review of a 36 inch commuter--if only I had one to review. Ride.
What is 24 inches tall, has standing forks and comes in an off-road version? Hint: Prior to 1612 the name of this company revolved around the earth. That's right, Sun Unicycles. A great company that produces great unicycles at an affordable price. Yes, news is slow in the unicycle world and has been for some time so why don't we all just take a look at these fine unicycles by Sun, until someone crosses a bridge or jumps something--please--do something newsworthy! :)
This is an older video, but one that I just stumbled across a few days ago. It's from a show called, well--El Show de los Records in Madrid, Spain. In this show--back in October of 2001--Peter Rosendahl of Sweden performs a few stunts on regular and not so regular unicycles. He's an accomplished rider and very enthusiastic. But do yourself a favor and sit through his performance and the hosts banter after he is done, because there is more! Those items you see in their hands as they are talking are not pieces of metal rod, they are two small--no minuscule--unicycles. Amazing! |
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